More corn, more floods? Iloilo faces a hard tradeoff

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

A policy think tank is urging the provincial government of Iloilo to adopt a “governed agricultural development approach” to the province’s rapidly expanding corn industry to curb rising flood risks and protect watershed integrity.

The Institute of Contemporary Economics (ICE), in its proposal titled “Corn, Flood Risk, and Shared Value in Batad,” stressed the need to balance economic growth with environmental stewardship.

The group said a governed approach ensures that agricultural growth raises farmers’ incomes and protects residents while complying with stewardship rules and preserving vital watershed functions.

Yellow corn has become a major driver of the provincial economy, according to ICE.

In 2025, it accounted for 96.1% of Iloilo’s total corn production, yielding more than 104,867 metric tons from over 23,000 hectares, the group said.

Most yellow corn in the Philippines is grown for livestock and poultry feed, linking the crop’s expansion to the national feed and meat supply chain.

Despite these figures, which exceed national benchmarks for both yield and farmgate prices, the report warned that high production alone does not guarantee a better quality of life for farmers or local communities.

“The same figures also show why governance is necessary. Higher production, better yields, and favorable farmgate prices do not automatically establish that ordinary people are better off,” the group said.

“Farmer net returns remain unresolved after input costs, credit, drying, hauling, quality discounts, crop risk, and market dependence. Downstream buyer, trader, dryer, hauler, consolidator, and feed-chain roles also require review where production may overlap with forestland, stewardship areas, steep slopes, riparian zones, or watershed-sensitive locations,” it added.

The central concern of the proposal is the expansion of commercial corn production into sensitive areas, including forestlands and watershed zones.

ICE’s proposal to Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. was prompted by a Daily Guardian investigation, which found that Batad lost 80% of its forest cover over the past two decades as protected watersheds were converted into yellow corn plantations that rely on soil-eroding herbicides.

Batad is a fifth-class municipality in northern Iloilo long known for its cornfields.

Some of these plantations are cultivated within a Community-Based Forest Management Agreement area in Alapasco, which was intended to protect and rehabilitate public forestlands while allowing communities to use forest resources sustainably.

“Batad is a municipal case, but the issues it raises are provincial in character. They touch on Iloilo’s agricultural value-chain growth, upland land use, watershed condition, disaster-risk exposure, infrastructure access, and the long-term direction of agricultural rebuilding in Iloilo and Panay,” the think tank said.

To address the worsening condition of Batad’s forestlands, ICE is pushing for a Batad-Alapasco Watershed and Corn Value Chain Review.

The initiative would map production areas against forestland classifications, slopes, and waterway buffers, the group said.

It would also document farmer cost structures and the roles of value-chain actors, such as traders and haulers, to ensure fair value capture, and review agency compliance on forestland and stewardship monitoring.

“The policy direction proposed is not anti-farmer, anti-corn, or anti-enterprise. It is for governed agricultural development,” it said.

ICE clarified that the approach envisions corn production continuing in safe areas while high-risk locations shift toward agroforestry and restoration.

ICE said the provincial government would lead the multi-agency effort, bringing together the offices of planning, agriculture, environment, and disaster risk reduction to create a single factual record.

The proposal lands as Iloilo pursues its goal of becoming a “forest province,” with the provincial government aiming to raise forest cover from about 12% to 33% by 2044 under Defensor’s Tanum Iloilo reforestation program.